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Archbishop Gabriel of Comana fell asleep in the Lord

Archbishop Gabriel of Comana fell asleep in the Lord just after midnight in the early hours of this morning Saturday 26 October.

Details of the funeral will follow.

Here are some words he addressed to us at Paskha 2012.

"When we look at our lives, the lives of all men on earth, we are tempted to sadness, and we could say like the writer of Ecclesiastes: All is vanity and vexation of spirit (Eccl. 2:17). So many misfortunes, so much shattered love! Serious illness, unexpected accidents, old age in which everything is on the decline: all can exhaust us. Many young people are unsure about their future and are beset with anguish, sometimes seeking substitutes with no tomorrow.

Faced with these fears, this anguish, we must remember that Great Friday comes before Easter. We must return in our thoughts to Gethsemane: My soul is troubled even unto death, and to the Crucifixion: My God, why hast Thou forsaken me? We will then understand that the Resurrection is not just a simple, delightful family feast, but is a real surging forth, a hymn to life and love! If Christ accepted suffering, humiliation (kenosis), exclusion, rejection, terrible solitude, abandoning by His apostles and, in the end, death on the Cross, it is so that, through the mystery of the Resurrection that followed, we may have no more fear".